Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to resonant three-dimensional transistors. More particularly, the present invention relates to MEMS-based resonant FinFETs.
Background Information
High-Q filters can be used to create oscillators by incorporating them in a positive feedback loop with amplifiers providing adequate gain. The “Q” refers to “quality” factor—dimensionless parameter describing how under-damped an oscillator is, characterizes a resonator's bandwidth relative to its center frequency; higher Q equals lower rate of energy loss relative to the stored energy of the resonator (lower damping); higher Q means lower damping (lower energy loss).
Such oscillators are used as a signal source for communication systems as well as analog electronics. They can also be used as a clock source for digital electronics.
High-Q filters are also used in communication systems to select specific bands and channels, eliminate interferers, suppress spurious transmissions among many other usage. The higher the quality factor Q of the filter, the better selectivity it provides for different channels and bands, as well as lower phase noise and jitter for the oscillators constructed by such filters.
Existing solutions include those that can achieve 10's of GHz frequencies, however, these suffer from low quality factor (Q<50). Other existing solutions are very challenging to scale up to GHz frequencies. Still other existing solutions require extra fabrication steps, which may affect yield, and/or result in a limited thermal budget.
Thus, a need continues to exist for high-Q filters that do not suffer the above-noted shortcomings.